Tonight I attended a live recording of NPR’s Science Friday at the Bob Carr Theater here in Orlando, hosted by WMFE-FM 90.7. It was very cool to see Ira Flatow in person reading lines for the show, cracking jokes, and interviewing guests. The show featured robots, prosthetics, live music, and space exercise. And to top it off, the show was mostly comprised of local people!
UCF professor Dr. Stephen Lambert and Dr. Albert Manero of Limbitless Solutions near UCF talked about the innovative prosthetics they’ve been working on and delivering. Annika Emmert (12), who received a prosthetic from them in 2015 also made an appearence on stage to talk about her experience.
Jackie Quinn and Rob Mueller from NASA Swamp Works and the Resource Prospector Mission demoed some robots and talked about space prospecting.
Winners and competitors in the most recent Florida FIRST Robotics Competition demoed their robots in friendly competition.
The musical guest was local (UCF-trained) guitarist Chris Belt, of the duo Belt & Ramirez, who not only plays at the local Timucua White House art music venue, but is the Executive Director now. He was fantastic, playing both classical acoustic and interesting ambient electric guitar tunes.
Stay tuned to Science Friday to hear the episode which airs Friday 3/31/2017.